Here Comes the Judge! Gender Distortion on TV Reality Court Shows

University of Baltimore Law Forum
Volume 39
Number 1 Fall 2008
Article 6
2008
Here Comes the Judge! Gender Distortion on TV
Reality Court Shows
Taunya Lovell Banks
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
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Banks, Taunya Lovell (2008) "Here Comes the Judge! Gender Distortion on TV Reality Court Shows," University of Baltimore Law
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ARTICLE
HERE COMES THE JUDGE! GENDER DISTORTION ON TV
REALITY COURT SHOWS
By: Taunya Lovell Banks·
[W] e are seeing a shift from . .. the failed representation of the real
... to ... the impenetrable commingling offiction and reality . ..
representations no longer need to be rooted in reality. It is sufficient
for images simply to reflect other images. I
Law has become ... entertainment law.
2
I. INTRODUCTION
I
n 2000, television reality court shows replaced soap operas as the
top daytime viewing genre. Unlike the prototype reality court show,
The People's Court presided over by the patriarch Judge Wapner, a
majority of reality court judges are female and non-white. A judicial
world where women constitute a majority of the judges and where
non-white women and men dominate is amazing. In real life most
judges are white and male.
During that break-through 2000-2001 television viewing season,
seven of the ten reality court judges were male - three white and four
black. Of the three women judges, only one Judy Sheindlin of Judge
Judy was white. The others, Glenda Hatchett of Judge Hatchett, and
Mablean Ephraim of Divorce Court, were black. At the beginning of
the 2007-2008 viewing season there were still ten shows but women
judges outnumbered men, and only two judges, Judy Sheindlin and
David Young, were white. Five of the six women judges are nonwhite - three Latinas and two black Americans as are three of the
four males - two black and one Latino. Judicial diversity, however,
'Jacob A. France Professor of Equality Jurisprudence, University of Maryland School of
Law. Some of the ideas expressed in this essay appear in Taunya Lovell Banks, Will the Real
Judge Stand-Up: Virtual Integration on TV Reality Court Shows, PICTURING JUSTICE: THE
ON-LINE JOURNAL OF LAW AND POPULAR CULTURE (Jan. 2003) available at
http://www.usfca.edulpj/realjudge_banks.htm.
I RICHARD K. SHERWIN, WHEN LAW GOES POP: THE VANISHING LINE BETWEEN LAW AND
POPULAR CULTURE 128 (2000).
2 Lisa Scotto line, Get Off the Screen, 24 NOVA L. REv. 655,656 (2000).
38
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Gender Distortion on TV Court Shows
39
does not apply to Asian-Americans who remain absent from the
benches of reality daytime television court shows.
Despite the integrated television reality court judiciary, many
daytime viewers might be surprised to learn that women judges,
especially black and other non-white women judges, are still the
exception in real courts. Despite an almost equal percentage of
women and men enrolled in American laws schools, women tend to be
3
concentrated in less prestigious legal jobs after graduation. They
currently comprise 18.67% of federal judges and twenty percent of
state judges; the percentage of black judges, female and male, is
around six to eight percent (8.6% federal, 5.9% state) and even lower
4
for Latinas/os and Asian Americans. Thus the overrepresentation of
white and non-white women on the television reality court show
benches warrants closer examination.
Prior scholarship on reality TV court shows tends to focus on the
shows' impact on public knowledge and perception about the justice
5
system. There has not been a meaningful feminist critique of these
3 See generally Marina Angel, Women Lawyers of All Colors Steered to Contingent
Positions in Law School and Law Firms, 26 CHICANO-LATINO L. REv. 169 (2006); Mary C.
Noonan et aI., Pay Differences Among the Highly Trained: Cohort Differences in the Sex Gap
in Lawyers' Earnings, 84 Soc. FORCES 853 (2005) (comparing "the sex gap in earnings 15
years after graduation for two cohorts of lawyers and find that it has remained constant over
time.").
4See Lynn Hecht Schafran, The Amazing Rise of Women in the American Judiciary, 36 U.
ToL. L. REV. 953, 955 (2005) (estimating the number of women state judges at "a little over"
20%); ABA National Database on Judicial Diversity in the State Courts,
http://www.abanet.org/judindJdiversity/national.html(1ast visited Mar. 25, 2008) (5.9%
African American, 1.1 % AsianlPacific Islander, 2.8% Latina/o, 0.1 % Native American);
Federal Judicial Center, Judges of the United States Courts, available at
http://www.fjc.gov/public/home.nsVhisj (searchable database providing statistics of sitting
federal judges confirmed through Sept. 7, 2007) (18.6% women, 8.6% African American,
0.8% Asian American, 5.4% Hispanic, and 1 Native American judge, or 0.08%).
5 See, e.g., Lawrence M. Friedman, The One-Way Mirror: Law, Privacy, and the Media,
82 WASH. U.L.Q. 319, 340 (2003); Steven A. Kohm, The People's Law versus Judge Judy
Justice: Two Models ofLaw in American Reality-Based Courtroom TV, 40 LAW & SOC'y REv.
693, 694 (2006) (comparing two models of law and justice embodied in two daytime reality
court shows; and noting that "American television programming focusing on the law forms a
significant part of the cultural legal landscape for many Americans .... The result of this can
be unrealistic expectations about the nature of future careers in law and a more simplistic
outlook on legal ethics."); Erika Lane, The Reality of Courtroom Television Shows: Should the
Model Code ofJudicial Conduct Apply to T. V. Judges?, 20 GEO. J. LEGAL ETHICS 779, 780-85
(2007); David Ray Papke, From Flat to Round: Changing Portrayals of the Judges in
American Popular Culture, 31 J. LEGAL PROF. 127, 147-48 (2007); Kimberlianne Podlas,
Please Adjust Your Signal: How Television's Syndicated Courtrooms Bias Our Juror
Citizenry, 39 AM. Bus. LJ. 1 (2001) (discussing impact of the shows on juror attitudes);
Kimberlianne Podlas, The Monster in the Television: The Media's Contribution to the
Consumer Litigation Boogeyman, 34 GOLDEN GATE U. L. REv. 239, 260-69 (2004); Bruce
Zucker and Monica Herr, The People's Court Examined: A Legal and Empirical Analysis of
40
University of Baltimore Law Forum
[Vol. 39.1
shows. By "feminist critique," I do not mean mere comparisons of
female and male TV judges, but rather a more nuanced critique that
considers the shifting gender and racial composition of the judges, the
absence of white men and overrepresentation of non-whites females
and males.
Uninformed television viewers might assume that judges on reality
television court shows resemble and perform the same work as real
life judges. If this is the case, then the prevalence of and preference
for women judges on television may suggest that the viewing public
believes women, especially non-white women, are as good or even
better judges than men. But it also is possible that the prevalence of
TV women judges may indicate just the opposite. During the late
1980s and early 1990s there were many films produced with women
lawyers as main characters, yet women lawyers were not portrayed in
6
as positive a light as their male counterparts.
Thus it is important to more closely examine TV reality court
judges to determine what messages the predominately non-white
women judges on these shows transmit to audiences and why some
judges are more popular than others. This essay looks at the gender
and racial composition and demeanor of these television reality judges.
What follows is not an empirical exercise, but rather a critical analysis
by an observant daytime viewer who viewed these shows through a
7
third-wave feminist legal lens mindful of the messages conveyed to
the viewer about courts and judges.
This analysis asks whether women TV reality judges behave
differently from their male counterparts and whether women's
increased visibility as judges on daytime reality court shows reinforces
or diminishes traditional negative stereotypes about women, especially
the Small Claims Court System, 37 U.S.F.L. REV. 315, 322-24 (2003); Taunya Lovell Banks,
Will the Real Judge Stand-Up: Virtual Integration on TV Reality Court Shows, PICTURING
JUSTICE: THE ONLINE J. OF LAW & POPULAR CULTURE, (Jan. 2003), available at
http://www.usfca.edu/pj/realjudge_banks.htm.
6 See Stacy Caplow, "Still in the Dark: Disappointing Images of Women Lawyers in the
Movies", 20 WOMEN'S RTS. L. REP. 55, 69 (1999); Cynthia Lucia, Women on Trial: The
Female Lawyer in the Hollywood Courtroom. in FEMINISM, MEDIA, AND THE LAW, 146, 147
(Martha A. Fineman & Martha T. McCluskey eds., 1997); Louise Everett Gmham &
Geraldine Maschio, A False Public Sentiment: Narrative and Visual Images of Women
Lawrers in Film, 84 Ky. LJ. 1027, 1067 (1996).
Early feminists focused first cm removing legal barriers to full equality for women, they
were followed by so-called second wave feminists who focused on substantive equality but
who tended to adopt an essentialist approach to feminism ignoring the heterogeneity among
women based on socio-economic status, sexuality, age, mce, ethnicity, disability, religion and
citizenship status, among many other aspects of identity. Third-wave feminist seek to
approach gender equality from a more comprehensive perspective looking at various forms of
subordination that disproportionately impact women.
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Gender Distortion on TV Court Shows
41
non-white women. These are important questions because public
perceptions of law and legal institutions influence the practice of law
and societal perceptions about the legitimacy of law and legal
s
institutions. These perceptions may affect whether more women are
elected or appointed as judges in the United States and which women
get selected. Thus perceptions about the competence of black and
Latina women jurists in particular, whether true or false, have serious
implications for the legal system and any quest for a more
representative judiciary in the United States.
II. DAYTIME "REALITY" COURT SHOWS: ApPEARANCE VS. REAL
REALITY
Most of the new court shows and judges bear little resemblance to
Judge Joseph A. Wapner, the retired Los Angeles County judge on
The People's Court in the mid 1980s. Contemporary reality television
courts "essentially ... exploit law and [the] trial process to ... air
dirty laundry,,,9 something that rarely occurred on Wapner's The
People's Court. The new court shows also grossly distort public
notions about acceptable judicial behavior as well as the demographics
of the American jUdiciary.
Some people dismiss the influence of reality court shows by
labeling them low-brow and assume that most people do not take them
seriously. But as Georgia State Supreme Court Justice Leah Ward
Sears writes:
Because the sets are dressed to look like courts of law and are presided over
by lawyers in black robes who at least used to be judges, and involve people
who have agreed by contract to have their real court cases settled on
television, people tend to take these shows very seriously. As they should.
But this poses some serious problems. 10
8 Erika Lane reports: "the State of California Commission on Judicial Performance, a state
organization that investigates judicial misconduct, frequently receives complaints from
California citizens about disappointment because judges were entirely different than what was
expected, based on viewers' perception from syndic-shows." Lane, supra note 5, at 784 (citing
Lawrence M. Friedman, Lexitainment: Legal Process as Theater, 50 DEPAUL L. REV. 539,
552 (2000)). Zucker and Herr report: "Television courtroom dramas have had such an effect
on the public that in some cases, winning parties in judicial actions have reported that they are
actually upset with the outcome of their case because the judge 'has not humiliated their
opponent. '" Zucker and Herr, supra note 5, at 323-24.
9 Michael M. Epstein, Judging Judy, Mablean and Mills: How Courtroom Programs Use
Law to Parade Private Lives to Mass Audiences, 8 UCLA ENT. L. REV. 129, 129-31 (2001).
IOLeah Ward Sears, Those Low-Brow TV Court Shows, CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, July
10, 2001, available at http://csmonitor.comldurable/2001/07/1O/plls1.htm.
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[Vol. 39.1
Even if most television viewers know better, the least educated
viewers are more likely to rely disproportionately on television as their
primary source of information about the legal system,' I and these
viewers constitute a substantial portion of the daytime viewing
.
12
audlence.
Television critic David Zurawik writes: "Television is supposed to
help viewers get the kind of information they need to act as
responsible citizens in a democracy - not confuse them. But how are
we to expect clarity in a genre that is built on making the artificial
seem real?,,13 Despite their entertainment value, the impact of reality
court shows on viewer's perceptions of the legal system, including
attitudes about the judiciary, should not be under estimated. The next
section focuses on the contemporary prototype reality court show,
Judge Judy, identifying those aspects of this show that make it the
most popular daytime syndicated series.
III.
JUDGE JUDY: THE PROTOTYPE TELEVISION REALITY COURT
JUDGE
Judy Sheindlin, a former New York City Family Court Judge, is
largely responsible for the current resurgence in the popularity of
II Valerie Karno, Remote Justice: Tuning in to Small Claims, Race, and the
Reinvigoration o/Civic Judgment, in PUNISHMENT, POLITICS, AND CULTURE 261, 264 (Austin
Serat & Patricia Ewick eds., 2004) (noting that the advertisements on televised small claims
court shows "seem to be targeting the unemployed, uneducated sector of the U.S.
population"); Kohm, supra note 5, at 696 (noting "The final reason it is important to grapple
analytically with the reality court TV phenomenon is related to the presumed audience to
which the programs are marketed. Daytime television has traditionally been directed toward
housebound female audiences, and the recent crop of daytime reality judging programs clearly
follows this trend. The preponderance of female judges - and to a lesser extent African
American male judges - at the center of the reality-based courtroom genre is strong evidence
of a presumed female and indeed racialized audience.") (citation and footnote omitted).
Kohm continues, "The strategy of using judges drawn from racial minority groups seems to be
an effective tool in attracting minority viewers. A recent Nielsen Media analysis of African
American audiences in 2004 shows that the audience of Judge Mathis is 51 % African
American - the highest proportion of African American viewers of any daytime reality
courtroom program." Id. at 97 (footnotes omitted).
12 Consider the following example. In 2001 after watching Judge Judy and Judge Joe
Brown, the two most popular reality court shows, thirty-five year old Anthony Widgeon
He knew about "suppressing the
thought he knew how the U.S. court system worked.
evidence and all that good stuff." Confident, Widgeon appeared in a Virginia circuit court,
without a lawyer, on a domestic matter, thinking he could delay the case by moving for a
continuance. Shocked when the judge preceded anyway, Widgeon, after being quickly locked
up, learned the hard way that real court is not like Judge Judy or Judge Joe Brown. Mike
Saewitz, Many Judge u.s. Justice System By TV Courtroom Shows, THE VIRGINIAN PILOT,
Oct. 3, 2001, at El. Over the years lawyers and judges have told me similar stories.
13 David Zurawik, Beware - Reality TV Has Escaped From the Set, BALT. SUN, Dec. 14,
2003, at SF.
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Gender Distortion on TV Court Shows
43
reality court television shows. Her show, Judge Judy, consistently
ranks among the top twenty daytime television shows. Unlike the
fatherly Judge Wapner, Sheindlin is "a no-nonsense mother with little
patience for squabbling litigants.,,14 "To sustain her reputation as a
stem judge ... she is given to shrill, sudden shouts of 'Quiet!' when
interrupted."ls Nevertheless, the trials portrayed on Judge Judy are not
totally lacking in reality and "[t]he frustration that Judge Judy exhibits
and acts on is realistic. Litigants [in pro se courts] can be unpleasant,
rude to the judge and to the opposing party, painfully repetitious, and
unprepared, and judges can find that frustrating.,,16 But in actual small
claims court judges are more vigilant in controlling poor behavior and
limiting arguing between the litigants because real judges have no
desire to entertain onlookers.
In contrast to Sheindlin, the focus of black women reality court
judges seems slightly different. Mablean Ephriam and Glenda Hatchett,
the first black women judges, presented themselves differently and, as a
result, may be perceived differently by viewers because of negative
stereotypes about blacks and black women in particular. 17 The next
section discusses this point in more detail.
IV. BLACK WOMEN DAYTIME TELEVISION REALITY COURT JUDGES
A. Mablean Ephriam: Divorce Court
The original Divorce Court actually predates Wapner's The
People's Court airing initially from 1957-1969 and again from 198518
1992, but the disputes in the two earlier versions were fictional. In
August 1999 a revived and revamped version of Divorce Court aired
becoming a popular reality judge show. 19 The "judge" was Mablean
14Dirk Smillie, Legal Eagles Fly High Through TV Airwaves, THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE
MONITOR, Oct. 2, 1997, at 12.
15 Reuven Frank, Courting the Viewers, THE NEW LEADER, Feb. 24,1997 at 20.
16Jennifer Cromwell, Small Claims Court and Judge Judy: Is Life Imitating Art? Video
project prepared for my Law in Film class at Washington College of Law, American
University, April 24, 2001,6. (manuscript and video on file with author).
17 Black women are often stereotyped in negative and often conflicting ways as bad
mothers and simultaneously emasculating matriarchs, promiscuous red-hot mamas or asexual
Mammies, superwomen and dependent welfare mothers. Literature and film portrays black
women as Mammy or Prissy, Jezebel, Topsy, Eliza or Sapphire. Adele Alexander, She's No
Lady, She's a Nigger: Abuses, Stereotypes and Realities from the Middle Passage to Capitol
(and Anita) Hill, in RACE, GENDER, AND POWER IN AMERICA 3, 18 (Anita Faye Hill & Emma
Coleman Jordan eds., 1995) (discussing common stereotypes attributed to black women).
18 Thus technically only the latest version of Divorce Court qualifies as a daytime reality
court show. Scotto line, supra note 2, at 656-57.
19 Id.
44
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[Vol. 39.1
Ephriam, a Mississippi-born Los Angeles lawyer, who practiced
family law but never was a judge. Despite the show's name, Ephriam
is not empowered to grant divorces. Instead, she acts as a mediator for
petty domestic claims growing out of litigants' dissolved or dissolving
marriages. While purporting to adopt the no nonsense style of her role
model, Judge Judy,20 Ephriam seems more concerned with the wellbeing of the litigants than application of the law to their disputes,
intermingling personal counseling with her rulings.
In a dispute between an estranged black couple over
reimbursement for a weight loss program, it becomes clear that the
plaintiff (the wife) still loves her husband and has not gotten over the
break-up of their marriage. The plaintiff who expected her husband to
support her financially is outraged that she has to pay spousal support.
In response Ephriam lectures the woman that "we are all equal now,"
referring to the push by feminists and, one assumes, black civil rights
activists for equality before the law. The result, Ephriam notes, is that
wives, like husbands, have an equal obligation to support their former
spouses. Then Ephriam, a divorced mother with children, continues to
lecture the woman plaintiff, making a personal reference about the
difficulty of moving on with one's life when you still love someone.
In chambers following this trial, she continues this discussion with her
bailiff, clearly lecturing the audience not about resolving legal issues,
but about resolving painful personal issues. This is moralizing not
impartial decision-making, it is "therapeutic justice.,,21
On one level, there is a certain irony about a black woman telling
another black woman that we are all equal now, at least in the eyes of
the law.
Given continuing evidence of anti-black bias, many
commentators would disagree with Ephriam's statement. Yet, her
comment carries incredible power when she is positioned as a real
judge in a real court proceeding. Thus, her comments about equality
may call into question the beliefs and experiences of some viewers,
especially other black women. But on another level many viewers
may applaud Ephriam for adopting a more humane approach to legal
disputes. Unlike most real-life judges she seems genuinely concerned
about the parties' well-being, not just about how their dispute should
20 Reuven, supra note 15, at 20.
21 Some commentators view the operation
and application of the law as resulting in antitherapeutic consequences and call for the development of a more therapeutic jurisprudence.
For a discussion of therapeutic justice in the context of mediation proceedings see Ellen A.
Waldman, The Evaluative Facilities Debate in Mediation: Applying the Lens of Therapeutic
Jurisprudence, 82 MARQ. L. REV. 155,158-60 (1998).
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Gender Distortion on TV Court Shows
45
be resolved by applying legal principles. She makes judges seem
more human.
To another set of television viewers, Ephriam is a discomforting
image. Dark skinned, and until recently physically large, she is prone
to roll her eyes, and may remind some viewers of the stem Mammy
figure in the provocative film classics like Birth of a Nation or Gone
with the Wind. The Mammy figure in these films protects and upholds
the honor and beliefs of her white masters, even after emancipation.
Mammy "acquiesce[s] to and support[s] White supremacy.,,22
According to Pamela Smith, many whites today still "search for
the Mammy in all Black women. ,,23 Black working women continue to
be perceived as either Sapphire (the angry black woman) or Mammy.24
But the Mammy character is Sapphire's stereotypical opposite. The
modem or reworked Mammy, best typified according to Smith by
Oprah Winfrey, works outside the home and may even be portrayed as
2S
occupying a position of power. Because the image of black women
as Mammy is so pervasive, it becomes, consciously or unconsciously,
the expected and preferred behavior for some black working women. 26
Thus, it is possible for a black woman judge to be perceived by some
viewers as a modem-day Mammy.
While other viewers might argue that Ephriam is more of a
modernized Sapphire than Mammy, Smith sees a clear distinction
between these two stereotypical images, writing:
22 Pamela J. Smith, Part 11- Romantic Paternalism - The Ties That Bind: Hierarchies of
Economic Oppression That Reveal Judicial Disaffinity for Black Women and Men, 3 J.
GENDER RACE & JUST. 181,197 (1999). Pamela Smith also writes that Mammy is "typically
portrayed as overweight, dark, and with characteristically African features." Pamela J. Smith,
Teaching the Retrenchment Generation: When Sapphire Meets Socrates at the intersection of
Race, Gender, and Authority, 6 WM. & MARY J. OF WOMEN & L. 53, 120 (1999). Regina
Austin describes "Mammy ... [as] 'the perfect slave - a loyal, faithful, contented, efficient,
conscientious member of the family who always knew her place; and she gave the slaves a
white-approved standard of black behavior!'" Regina Austin, Sapphire Bound!, 1989 WIS. L.
REV. 539,570 (1989).
23 Smith, Teaching the Retrenchment Generation, supra note 22, at 118.
24 Regina Austin describes the stereotypical Sapphire, a character on Amos 'N' Andy, a
radio and then later a television show, as a "tough, domineering, emasculating, strident and
shrill" black woman. Austin, supra note 22, at 539-40.
2S Smith, Teaching the Retrenchment Generation, supra note 22, at 121. A brown-skinned
woman, Winfrey rose to popularity as an overweight talk show host. Despite her wealth and
power Winfrey still comes across to her audience as a nurturing mother surrogate. In a
footnote Smith cites examples of other modernized television mammies, two full-figure talk
show hosts, Star Jones of The View and Mother Love of Forgive or Forget, along with
Whoopi Goldberg who one newspaper's readers voted best suited to Mammy in a modem
version of Gone With The Wind. id. at 120 n.255.
26Smith, Part II - Romantic Paternalism, supra note 22, at 197-98.
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[Vol. 39.1
What separates Sapphire from Mammy is who benefits from the Black
woman's efforts .... Mammy's acceptability is grounded in the fact that she
uses her assets (and liabilities) for the benefit of her white charges.... not
for her. .. aggrandizement or the aggrandizement of her people.... her
every effort is designed to further white supremacy and Black acquiescence.
In contrast, Sapphire's efforts are not intended to benefit whites and instead
are for her own aggrandizement. 27
Ephriam as the upholder of the law benefits the dominant culture.
Perhaps, characterizing Ephriam as a modem Mammy may be too
harsh an indictment. Nevertheless, her bugging or rolling eyes and
other gestures on the bench are reminiscent of minstrel clowning and
undoubtedly invoke those images in the minds of some viewers. Then
again, negative stereotypes also might attach to Judy Sheindlin's
behavior. She is Jewish, and unlike the mild waspish Judge Wapner,
her tart tongue may be seen by some audiences as stereotypical
behavior for a Jewess. But I may simply be buying into the power of
28
the stereotype.
When the seventh season began Judge Ephriam appeared without
29
her trademark glasses and showing off her new figure. Although her
behavior did not change, Ephriam, with her new glamorized image,
looks less like a traditional Mammy.
Her changed physical
appearance had an impact. In March 2006 Fox Television Network
fired Ephriam when she asked for an increase in salary30 and replaced
her with a light skinned "more conventionally attractive" black
31
woman, Lynn Toler, a former administrative judge from Ohio. The
Smith, Teaching the Retrenchment Generation, supra note 22, at 128 n.286.
Perhaps it is our own stereotypical images of black women as Mammies, reinforced by
both film and television that are deeply embedded in even the most progressive minds. Visual
images, especially images projected through the intimacy of television, have the power to
subvert all viewers and even television judges. Yet still other viewers may see little
difference in the behaviors of Ephriam, Judge Judy and many real-life judges. Like real-life
judges, both judges uphold the status quo and apply middle-class societal values.
29 Between seasons she lost a significant amount of weight on another television reality
show, VH1's Celebrity Fit Club. Don Kaplan, Lighter Scales of Justice - Celebrity Judge
Drops Lbs., N.Y. POST, Aug. 25, 2005, at 83 (noting that Ephriam lost "about 70 pounds ...
over the summer .... Ephriam also doesn't need her trademark glasses anymore. As part of
her own personal celebrity makeover, the judge underwent Lasik eye surgery. ").
30 R.D. Heldenfels, Dennis the Missing, TuLSA WORLD, Oct. 29, 2006, at 46 ("Mablean
Ephriam left the [Divorce Court] series after seven seasons when she and the show could not
agree on a new contract. Issues reportedly included money (with Ephriam saying she was
getting paid less than other TV judges), workload and Ephraim's hairstyle. She was replaced
by Lynn Toler, who was also a judge in real life.").
31 DivorceCourt.com, Meet Judge Toler, http://www.divorcecourt.comltext.asp?category_
id=50 (last visited Sept. 29, 2008).
27
28
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Gender Distortion on TV Court Shows
47
ratings dropped twenty percent!32 Perhaps some viewers missed
seeing a black woman in authority that looked like them.
B. Glenda Hatchett: Judge Hatchett
By incorporating periodic counseling of litigants, Judge Ephriam
deviates somewhat from the traditional style of television reality court
show judges. A more openly therapeutic version of Ephriam's
successful formula was adopted by Glenda Hatchett, whose show,
Judge Hatchett premiered in fall 2000. Columbia TriStar unveiled
Judge Hatchett, and characterized Hatchett, a black woman and a
former Juvenile Court judge, as someone who "reportedly punishes
litigants beyond the small-claims court threshold, and the ensuing
punishment is documented via videotape.,,33 The publicity for the
show also characterized Hatchett as a "very tough but very
compassionate [judge who] ... doesn't take any grief from anybody ..
• • ,,3
In an interview with the black-owned Amsterdam News, she
described her show as "a forum where I can reach beyond the young
people that I impacted in my courtroom. . .. It won't be enough to hit
the gavel and make a judgment. It's more important that they
understand the life lessons after the judgment ends. ,,35
During the first season the show opened by touting Hatchett's prior
judicial experience, saying that she offers an "unconventional brand of
justice" and "will do whatever it takes to make a difference." This
description of her judicial role does not squarely fit with any
stereotypical depictions of black women, except, perhaps the more
general racial stereotype of black Americans as lawless and
disrespectful of conventional justice. Her actions on the show during
the first season reflected this new kind of justice.
In one episode a mother sued her daughter for ruining the mother's
credit by defaulting on rental payments for an apartment secured by
the mother. Judge Hatchett not only ordered the daughter to repay the
32 Marc Berman, Mr. Television: Syndication Nation, MEDIA WEEK, June 11,2007, at 34
("You have to wonder why Lynn Toler replaced slimmed-down Mablean Ephriam on Divorce
Court. Without Ephriam, ratings have crashed and the show is not nearly as compelling.");
Marc Berman, Syndication Report: Part 112006-07 Season, 16 MEDIA WEEK 45, Dec. 11,
2006, at 14 ("Twentieth Television's veteran Divorce Court (with Judge Lynn Toler in place
of Judge Mablean Ephriam) has suffered drop off. Comparably, Divorce Court is down by 20
percent in households (to 2.0 from 2.5), 15 percent in women 18-49 (to 1.1 from 1.3) and 14
percent in women 25-54 (to 1.2 from 1.4).").
33 Chris Pursell, Judge Hatchett Upgraded, 19:36 ELECTRONIC MEDIA p8, Il7p, 1c
(09/04/2000).
341d.
35 On Sept. 11, Here Comes The Judge: Hatchett, N.Y. AMSTERDAM NEWS, Sept. 13,2000
at 22.
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money, but also arranged for the daughter (a twenty-eight year old
unmarried mother of five children who was expecting twins) to get
counseling and job training. Hatchett also expressed a desire to help the
mother repair her credit. All of these solutions go beyond traditional
judicial remedies. Thus, Hatchett's court seems more like a social service
office than a traditional court oflaw.
Surprisingly, her unconventional approach in the courtroom failed
to gamer high ratings, so when the next viewing season debuted gone
were the references to Hatchett's unconventional form of justice.
Instead, she reemerged in the court's opening as a tough talking
berating judge, much like the stereotypical emasculating Mammy or
Judge Judy. The show's new introduction is a series of contradictory
video clips. The first clip looks and sounds like the old Hatchett. She
is shown embracing a child and saying "I did it to save your life." The
next clip looks like the introduction to other popular reality court
shows. Hatchett asks two sets of litigants "who threw the first blow"
and both parties respond simultaneously by pointing to the other side.
Her demeanor changes abruptly in the final two clips. Both clips show
her grimacing face saying "there is going to be hell to pay" and "do
you want me to come off this bench!"
The revamped Judge Hatchett sends confusing messages to the
viewers. On one hand, Hatchett seems like a compassionate caring
judge who is willing to go outside the traditional legal parameters to
resolve disputes, but her conciliatory approach is uneven. Sometimes
she calls in counselors for the parties and other times she does not. At
other times, she is more aggressive using strong threatening language
uncommon for even the toughest real life judge. Her modified style is
reflected in the cases she hears. Some are family court cases,
involving wayward children or paternity questions, but increasingly
the show solicits more salacious or contentious cases with little real
legal content. In these cases rather than dispensing with irrelevant
factual details, Hatchett often lets the disputing parties go on at length
with irrelevant descriptions of each party's bad behavior returning
briefly at the end to apply the law in resolving the legal aspect of the
dispute. Thus the show often sounds like a soap opera that takes place
in a courtroom.
The show's ratings improved slightly after the revised format
allowing Hatchett to survive for five seasons, but Judge Hatchett
remained in the ratings basement for reality court shows. Original
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Gender Distortion on TV Court Shows
49
36
production ended in spring 2008. The fate of Judge Hatchett suggests
that television ratings strongly influence show fonnat and judicial
behavior of television judges. Hatchett's original demeanor as a caring
judge willing to go outside the law did not fit neatly with the
audience's expectation or preference for a more hard-nosed judge.
Initially Judge Hatchett, her open robe worn like a jacket, was
interested in doing what was best for the litigants, not necessarily what
was dictated by the legal system. 37 When low ratings threatened the
show Hatchett adopted a fonnat similar to more successful women
television reality court judges. Rather than present a positive image of
a black woman judge to counter contemporary televised stereotypes,
she was forced by the market to confonn to a more Mammy-like
model as the bossy black woman upholding the law.
V. LATINAlO REALITY COURT JUDGES
Like black women judges, the preferred television court room
behavior for some Latina judges may be influenced by racially or
ethnically tinged stereotypes. During the 2007-2008 viewing season,
there were three female and one male Latinalo judges on daytime
television reality court shows. Except for Judge Marilyn Milian on
The People's Court, Latinalo judges are a recent addition to daytime
courtrooms.
A. Marilyn Milian: The People's Court
Marilyn Milian, a fonner Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge, was
38
the first Latina judge on a daytime reality court show. Prior to The
People's Court judges had persistently low ratings and a revolving
39
door of white male judges. The ratings improved when Milian took
36 Paige Albiniak, Syndication Ratings: Judge Judy Strong in Courtroom, Resilient in
Ratings, BROADCASTING & CABLE, Mar. 11, 2008, available at http://www.broadcastingcable.
comlindex.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6540 146.
37 Her actual personal philosophy is reflected in a book she co-authored in 2003. GLENDA
HATCHETT & DANIEL PAISNER, SAY WHAT You MEAN AND MEAN WHAT You SAY!: 7 SIMPLE
STRATEGIES TO HELP OUR CHILDREN ALONG THE PATH TO PURPOSE AND POSSIBILITY (2003).
38 Lynda Richardson, From the Bench, Judgment and Sass, N.Y. TIMES, Mar. 27, 2001, at
A25. An article discussing Milian's presence on The People's Court starts: "As the glamorous
new judge wielding the television gavel on 'The People's Court,' Marilyn Milian wears crimson
lipstick and matching fingernails." It is highly unlikely that a male judge would be described
in such physical terms. So Judge Milian's gender even more than her ethnicity is the focus of
the article. Only three paragraphs later does the article mention that she is both the first
female judge on The People's Court and the first "Hispanic" judge. Id.
39 After Judge Joseph A. Wapner left the show in 1994 the show ended only to be revived
in 1997 with Edward Koch, the former mayor of New York City as the "judge" (1997 -99)
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[Vol. 39.1
4O
the bench. Most of the time, she focuses on the legal issues and
minimizes irrelevant personal details. There are infrequent outbursts
directed at disrespectful or disruptive litigants causing some viewers to
wonder whether Milian, a "white-looking" Cuban-American, is really
41
a closeted stereotypical Latin spitfire. It is unclear, however, whether
Milian's popularity stems from her personality or ethnicity.
Judge Steven Kohm argues that The People's Court has a lawfocused format unlike Judge Judy whose format is personality42
focused. Thus on The People's Court "[l]aw is a symbolic resource
for the program, legitimating not only the decision making of the
judge, but also the very authority the judge relies on for authenticity.,,43
So The People's Court differs from the other television reality court
shows. Any moralizing or commentary occurs outside the court room
when Harvey Levin, characterized as the "host and legal reporter,"
44
periodically interviews spectators in Times Square during the show.
The different format may explain why Milian can be a ratings success
without resorting to the theatrics of Sheindlin, Ephriam, or Hatchett.
Personality-focused reality court shows like Judge Judy tend to
reflect the personal ideology of the judge - the "charismatic
lawgiver" or "ultimate truth machine," 5 a situation Kohm argues
represents "a distinctly anti-democratic vision of law.,,46 More than
the personality-focused Sheindlin, Ephraim, or Hatchett, Milian's
demeanor mimics conduct deemed judicial by most of real-life judges.
Undoubtedly influenced by Milian's success, and the growing Latina/o
followed by former New York State Supreme Court Judge Jerry Sheindlin, the husband of
Judge Judy (1999-2001). Kohm, supra note 5, at 701.
40 Lola Ogunnaike, Don't Mess with the People's Judge, N.Y. TIMES, July 2, 2006, § 2, at
24 ("She is the show's first Hispanic judge and its first woman; and, at 45, she is significantly
younger than the three men who wielded the gavel before her, all of which appears to be a
good thing. Under her brash, no-nonsense watch, the show's ratings have increased 72
percent.").
41 See Maria L. Ontiveros, Three Perspectives on Workplace Harassment of Women of
Color, 23 GOLDEN GATE U. L. REV. 817, 820 (1993) (Latina women stereotyped as "hotblooded" and very sexual).
42 Kohm, supra note 5, at 700-01.
43/d. Kohm continues, the law "reinforces the rational-legal nature of judicial authority ...
by placing the law firmly in the hands of the citizens." ld. at 701.
44 ld. at 702.
Kohm writes: "[T]he narrator advocates a more participatory process.
Judges may come and go, but the court remains 'our' collective property." ld. at 701. "What
separates Judge Judy from People's Court is its insistence on viewing Judge Judy as the sole
location where law and justice reside . . .. If we revere Judge Judy, it is because she
evidences a unique ability to solve problems where others are incapable, like a modem-day
Solomon. This is markedly different from the rational-legal authority embodied in People's
Court .... " Id. at 704-05.
45 Id. at 704.
46 ld. at 703.
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Gender Distortion on TV Court Shows
51
daytime viewing audience,47 more Latina judges entered daytime
television. Television advertisers as well as media corporations are
ever mindful of changing viewer demographics.
B. Christina Perez: Christina's Court
Christina Perez, the judge on Christina's Court, is a former Los
Angeles judge. Previously she hosted La Corte de Familia (Family
Court) on Telemundo Television NetworklNBC which aired
48
internationally in fifteen countries. Her addition to the syndicated
English language reality court show line-up probably reflects an
attempt to draw Latinalo audiences from Spanish language channels
49
like Telemundo.
The show's website highlights the immigrant background of
American-born Perez's Columbia-born parents:
Growing up, Cristina was exposed to all walks of life, cultures, and
differing problems facing each community. She watched her parents
struggle with racism, finances, and adapting to the U.S. culture with a
foreign language. Cristina learned to speak English around the age of 10
and today has mastered both languages. With her unique and well-rounded
background, Cristina credits her family's example and desire to remain
close to her heritage and culture for aU of her personal and professional
achievements. 50
The introduction to her show touts Perez as "direct and fairminded with a deep passion for the law and ordinary people." This
passion leads her to "take the law into her heart." But this promised
passion for the law is missing from the show since there was virtually
no discussion of law on three recently viewed programs. Instead,
during a case about the failure to repay a personal loan, Perez
questioned the plaintiff, a former Miss India, at length about her
experiences as a beauty queen, showing photographs and video clips
of the plaintiff at various events. Then she ruled on the legal issue
without explanation. During another case viewers got a detailed
description of the plaintiffs modeling career and business dealings,
information totally unrelated to the legal claim.
Perez's style is similar to real judges except that she asks litigants
totally irrelevant questions designed to draw out parties' stories. As a
47 Jeff Zbar, Law and Disorder Are Hot: English-language Telenovelas, Court Shows Are
on the Rise as Syndicators Reach/or Hispanics, ADVERTISING AGE, Mar. 27, 2006, at S13.
48 CristinasCourt.com, http://cristinascourt.comlinside.asp?category_id=27 (last visited
Sept. 29, 2008).
49 Her website cites her as "a fine-tuned example of a successful Spanish to English
market crossover." ld.
50Id.
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result she seems more like an interview show host sitting on an
elevated perch. Perez's personal style seems better suited for a lawfocused show like The People's Court rather than the show's
personality-focused format. The seeming disconnect between Perez's
51
judicial style and the show's format may explain the low ratings.
C. Maria Lopez: Judge Maria Lopez
Maria Lopez of Judge Maria Lopez is the stereotypical "feisty"
Latina judge, yet ironically her show has the lowest ratings. 52 In the
show's opening she is shown saying that "there is only one person
who decides the truth here, me." In the background the words
"passionate," "strong," "experienced," "fair," "tough," and "pioneer"
appear on the screen as Lopez recounts her arrival as a young child in
the United States as a Cuban refugee. After speaking a few words in
Spanish, Lopez ends the introduction to the show with "You talk about
the American dream, I am the American Dream."
Lopez, a former judge with fifteen years of experience, was the
first Latina named to the Massachusetts Supreme Court. 53 Her
televised judicial image and courtroom behavior is consistent with the
personality-focused reality court show, thus her lack of success is
puzzling. Lopez attempts to incorporate more legal lessons into each
show than most reality court judges, yet fails to connect with the
daytime viewing audience. Perhaps her feistiness may remind viewers
more of the stereotypical Latin spitfire than the hardnosed Judy
Sheindlin, and this difference may explain why her show is less
popular than Christina's Court. In addition, the immigrant story when
advanced by a Latina as opposed to a European may have less
currency with poor and working-class viewers today given the rise of
anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States. There even may be
some ethnic or cultural factors since most Latinalo viewers are
Mexican Americans and Lopez is Cuban American, but this is mere
speculation.
Among the Latinalo television judges, only Judge Milian has been
successful in this venue. Both Christina's Court and Judge Maria
Lopez rank at the bottom of the syndicated TV reality court show
ratings. In the February 2008 sweeps, Christina's Court tied with the
soon to be discontinued Judge Hatchett, just above Judge Maria
Albiniak, supra note 36.
Id.
53 Roger Catlin, TV Eye: Back in the Court, Sept. 18, 2006, available at http://blogs.
courant.comlroger_catlin_tv_ eye/2006/09lback_in_ court.html.
51
52
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Gender Distortion on TV Court Shows
53
Lopez. All three women were beaten out, but just barely, by Alex
5
Ferrer of Judge Alex, the lone male Latino judge.
Perhaps Latinalo judges fare better on law focused rather than
personality-focused reality court shows because the former rely less on
stereotypical behavior to drive the show than the latter. On the other
hand, the lack of ratings success of most Latinalo judges may have
more to do with the individual personalities of Perez, Lopez and Ferrer
than with show format or audience receptiveness. This is a topic
worthy of further study, assuming the latest group of Latinalo reality
court judges survive. In the meantime, Judge Judy continues to reign
over daytime syndicated court rooms with an audience that has grown
steadily. In February 2008, Judge Judy was the top rated daytime
55
show, beating out Oprah.
VI. REFLECTIONS ON GENDER OVERREPRESENTATION
Overall, there are some distinctive gender differences between
female and male reality television judges. To achieve successful
ratings, women judges on personality-focused daytime reality court
shows must adopt a style that is tart and aggressive. Thus they are
more likely to scream and berate litigants, whereas male judges are
more likely to use sarcasm. This behavior when adopted by black
women television judges, who are no more likely to scream and berate
litigants than other women judges, may be judged more harshly by
viewers because of pre-existing negative stereotypes about black
women. But the same behavior may be totally ineffective when
adopted by Latina women judges. Overall, viewers prefer shows
where the judge acts like viewers expect real-life judges and dislike
non-traditional judges.
There is some research suggesting that daytime reality court
television viewers' perceptions about real-life judges are influenced by
these shows. In 2000, Kimberlianne Podlas conducted a small study
of jurors in the District of Columbia, Manhattan and Hackensack, New
Jersey and found that reality television court shows "cultivate in
frequent viewers' beliefs that judges are (and should be) . . .
aggressive, expressive, opinionated, inquisitive; [and] should indicate
their opinion about ... evidence or witnesses.,,56 But Podlas's study
did not control for gender or race differences, so it is unclear whether a
Albiniak, supra note 36.
!d.
56 Kimberlianne Podlas, Blame Judge Judy: The Effects of Syndicated Television
Courtrooms on Jurors. 25 AM. J. TRIAL Aovoc. 557, 570 (2002).
54
55
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[Vol. 39.1
judge's television style, rather than the judge's gender or race, is a
greater influence on a show's popularity or whether the type of show,
law-focused versus personality-focused, is a factor.
Finally, there is another, albeit smaller consequence of television
reality court shows' popularity. The judges on these shows earn much
57
more money as television judges than they did as real-life judges.
Many women TV judges had prominent judicial careers. Glenda
Hatchett, for example, "one of the youngest and most distinguished
African-American women ever to serve as the presiding judge of a
state COurt,,,58 left her position as Chief Judge of the Juvenile Court in
Fulton County, Georgia for the lure of a more lucrative career as a
59
televisionjudge. This development is troubling, given the low number
of non-white women in the American judiciary.
Almost a decade ago Sherrilyn Ifill worried that the
overrepresentation of black judges on television shows generally sends
an erroneous message about the extent of black representation in the
real life judiciary. This distortion may actually "undermine popular
support for increased racial diversity on the bench by suggesting that
our nation's benches are already racially diverse or that blacks have
60
'taken over' the courts." Her fears may not be unfounded. Leonard
Steinhorn and Barbara Diggs-Brown, write that the intimacy of
television "creates a bond between actor and viewer, between a
character and the public ... [that] offers ... 'synthetic experience,' a
substitute for reality that feels very real . . . a television lawyer [or
judge] becomes our model for the real thing. ,,61
57 Tom Dorsey, TV News and Reviews: TV judges happy to settle for huge salaries,
popularity, THE COURIER-JOURNAL (Louisville, Kentucky), Sept. 5, 2007 at E5 (noting that the
salary of an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court earns $194,000 per year substantially
less than most reality court judges; Judy Sheindlin, the highest paid TV reality judge, earns
approximately $30 million per year). Glenda Hatchett earns more on television than the
$111,000 she earned as Chief Judge of Fulton County Georgia's Juvenile Court. Lyle V.
Harris, Hatchett'sjustice, THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, Sept. 7, 2000, at D1.
58 Albiniak, supra note 36, at 22.
59 Jamie Vacca, Raising the Bar, ATLANTA, Mar. 2001 at 94.
60 Sherrilyn A. Ifill, Racial Diversity on the Bench: Beyond Role Models and Public
Confidence, 57 WASH. & LEE L. REv. 405, 480 n.362 (2000) (citing Patricia J. Williams,
SEEING COLORBLIND FUTURE: THE PARADOX OF RACE 29 (1st ed., The Noonday Press 1997)
(1997)).
61 Leonard Steinborn & Barbara Diggs-Brown, By THE COLOR OF OUR SKIN: THE
ILLUSION OF INTEGRATION AND THE REALITY OF RACE 144 (1999). See also, Benjamin
DeMott, Put on a Happy Face: Masking the Differences Between Blacks and Whites,
HARPER'S MAG., Sept. 1995 at 31-38 (discussing film portrayals of friendships between blacks
and whites and comparing the low level of integrated friendships in reality). Michael
Winston, writing in 1982 opined that television of the 1960s and 1970s created "'two black
realities' - the synthetic reality of the sitcoms [shows like The Jeffersons and Good Times]
and the one broadcast by the news programs - which for a decade, though juxtaposed
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Gender Distortion on TV Court Shows
55
Ifill's concern about race distortion in television court rooms may
also apply generally to all women and especially to non-white,
particularly black women, who more often than the "white-looking"
Latina women judges currently on television, wear their race on their
faces. Steinborn and Diggs-Brown remind us that "the average white
American family ... sees more blacks beamed into their living room on
a typical evening than they have seen at any other time or place during
the day... creating the impression that the world is more integrated than
it truly is.,,62 They call this phenomenon virtual integration, the
sensation white Americans get from television "of having meaningful,
repeated contact with blacks without actually having it.,,63 This visual
sensation of integration stands in stark contrast to reality, even the
reality of television.
It is possible that the increased presence of black women as judges
on television may contribute to whites' misconceptions about the
64
socio-economic status of most black Americans. Less educated and
affluent whites have the greatest misperceptions about blacks' socioeconomic status. 65 These are the same people who may be regular
viewers of daytime television.
VII. CONCLUSION
The overrepresentation of women and non-white male judges on
court shows may simply reflect the demographics of the daytime
viewing audience - predominately non-white working class women.
Steven Kohm writes:
Not since the days of Judge Joseph Wapner of the original People's Court
of the early 1980s has a white male judge on a reality courtroom program
enjoyed the mass popularity of the female and African American daytime
judges of today.
strangely, could never be reconciled." Michael R. Winston, Racial Consciousness and the
Evolution o/Mass Communications in the United States, 111 DAEDALUS 171, 178 (Fall 1982).
62 STEINHORN AND DIGGs-BROWN, supra note 61, at 145.
63Id. at 146.
64 A 2001 telephone survey on racial attitudes conducted by the Washington Post, the
Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, and Harvard University, found that large numbers of
white Americans "incorrectly believe that blacks are as well off as whites in terms of their
jobs, incomes, schooling, and health care." Richard Morin, Misperceptions Cloud Whites'
View a/Blacks, WASH. POST, July 11,2001, at AI. Although the employment gap between
whites and blacks has narrowed, blacks "continue to lag significantly behind whites in
employment, income, education and access to health care." Id. The survey results suggest that
a significant percentage of white Americans believe that black Americans "already have
achieved economic and social parity," a conclusion that defies "conventional wisdom." !d.
65 Id.
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[Vol. 39.1
As a consequence of their orientation toward female and marginalized
viewers, these programs speak not so much to the American population as a
whole but to a segment of the population that has traditionally been denied
a powerful role in civic and legal affairs. However, messages contained in
these programs about the role of the law in the lives of women and other
marginalized groups are becoming less and less about participation and
democracy. Instead, we are witnessing an evolution in the way daytime
reality courtroom television addresses its presumed audience: an evolution
that places little emphasis on formal legal intervention by the state and
instead stresses personal responsibility in the management of one's own
disputes and legal affairs. 66
Given the relatively small number of women, especially non-white
women judges proportionate to the general population in real life,
most litigants and jurors in the United States may never be exposed to
an actual non-white woman judge. This reality means that television
judges are the closest most litigants and jurors will get to non-white
women judges. Therefore, it is important to closely examine the
messages sent out by television reality court judges, even if we cannot
draw any firm conclusions about the impact of their presence on
public notions about the U.S. court system.
The overrepresentation of women judges on television is not
entirely negative. Women viewers, watching images of themselves on
TV as judges wielding power, using a common sense approach to
decide issues that the audience knows about from everyday life may
be empowering to viewers relatively powerless in real life. For these
women TV reality court shows represent a true people's court. They
are disorderly, the litigants' stories are funny, sad and outrageous
unlike most decorous courts of film and night-time TV. Further, the
women judges on these shows are not passive actors, they take charge,
meting out their version of justice!
66
Kohm, supra note 5, at 696-97.